Yemen Libya Egypt Israel SITREP October 31st, 2015 by John Rambo

Click banner for more info

Yemen:

• Yemen has never been a stable country, even prior to the Arab Spring.

• Currently the war is between the Houthis (supported by Iran) in the north against Hadi-loyalists (supported by Saudi-Arabia and co.) in the south and ISIL/AQAP in the east.

• The Arab Spring allowed Houthi Shias in the north of Yemen to mobilize just like the rest of the region.

• Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has always been active in Yemen. The attack on the USS Cole was by the Yemeni based Al-Qaeda. [Source]

Syria SITREP October 31st, 2015 by John Rambo

Click banner for more info

The Middle East Wars

The Middle East is once again swept up in wars. Not since the early 80s has the Middle East experienced such a wide array of conflicts. Not only do we have the mother of all proxy wars in Syria but also a slew of campaigns and operations dotting the entire region and greater area from tribal skirmishes to transnational conflicts.

In tangent with the Syrian crisis is the Iraqi civil war, which has been continuous since the fall of the Saddam’s Iraq by US forces. Modern Iraq has rarely known peace. From the Iran-Iraq war, the two gulf wars, and now this never ending civil war. These conflicts have warped Iraq on multiple levels. The ghost of the Iraqi army is what we know as ISIL today. [Source]

There is the Yemen war which pits multiple belligerents in another Iran-Saudi proxy war between Houthi Yemenis (who are predominantly Shia but have large Sunni support) against the old and ousted Hadi-loyalist Yemeni government. Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are also prominent in this fight.